Your Support Can End Breast Cancer

Through the veneer and glamour of the, at times aloof, Fashion Industry, comes shining moments of goodwill that remind us that Fashion truly does care. In 1994, a campaign targeting breast cancer arose out of one simple idea, with one simple graphic on one simple white tee.  Today, the campaign has grown and evolved into a legitimate effort to eradicate this terrible disease worldwide.
This year, The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), in partnership with NET-A-PORTER.COM. the world’s premier luxury online fashion retailer, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, announced their new crusade: New York Fashion Targets Summer Fridays – “a nationwide, grassroots campaign to inspire unity among women and their co-workers in the fight against breast cancer.”

Participants can purchase a limited edition Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC) polo shirt, designed by Ralph Lauren and available exclusively at NET-A-PORTER.COM to wear on “Summer Fridays” from now until Friday, September 25, 2009.

This philanthropic campaign reminds me that amidst the fickle trends and unforgiving attitudes of the fashion realm, its members do rally at times of need.  The Style adjudicators are far from heartless after all, and for that I give them due praise.

In Canada, we too join the fight.  On September 12-13, thousands of men and women unite to walk 30km in one day or 60km in two days in an effort to raise the funds needed to end breast cancer and other women’s cancers. My team has pledged to raise over $11,000 for this worthy cause. To contribute, please visit my site or my team member’s site.  We may not be a brigade of supermodels, but we can carry the torch with as much conviction and with as much panache as they can! Thank you and remember that there is a divine strength in numbers and together, as a global community, we can achieve anything.

The Uniform Project

Starting May 2009, Sheena Matheiken pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion and as a means to fundraise for the Akanksha Foundation.  Here’s how it works: “There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day she will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accoutrements, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies.” Matheiken explains her credo thus: “Think of it as wearing a daily uniform with enough creative license to make it look like I just crawled out of the Marquis de Sade’s boudoir”. (more…)